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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Blood-Light," what is the speaker imagining with the words, "Don't you want a little light in your belly?"
(a) Her mother's motive for constantly trying to feed her.
(b) Her brother's motive for trying to stab her.
(c) A way to communicate genuine joy.
(d) How to tell her lover that she wants them to have a child.

2. What is implied in "Postcolonial Love Poem's" allusion to the wars "which started me, which I lost and won"?
(a) Romantic relationships represent both a beginning and an end.
(b) Diaz is a pacifist who objects to war of any kind.
(c) Both the speaker's existence and struggles result from the wars of colonial conquest.
(d) The speaker's parents had a difficult relationship, and she inherited their argumentative tendencies.

3. In "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word," what is the literal meaning of the figurative lines, "an American drone finds then loves/ a body--the radiant nectar it seeks" (15)?
(a) The drone is taking photographs.
(b) The drone has crashed somewhere.
(c) The drone is following someone.
(d) The drone has wounded someone.

4. In "Postcolonial Love Poem," the speaker mentions a "cabochon." What is a cabochon?
(a) A smoothed and polished stone.
(b) A silver buckle common in the Southwestern United States.
(c) A variety of jasper.
(d) A small silver disk used to hold a bolo tie together.

5. In "Like Church," what does the speaker mean by "It is real work not to perform/ a fable" (30)?
(a) She feels controlled by her partner's whims and desires.
(b) She worries about assuming that she knows how her relationship will end.
(c) It is easy to fall into the trap of fulfilling a stereotype.
(d) Fairy tales and fables create unrealistic expectation about love.

6. In "These Hands, If Not Gods," what is the antecedent of the word "they" in the opening line "Haven't they moved like rivers?" (7)?
(a) The powers of the Christian God.
(b) The beloved's hands.
(c) The speaker's hands.
(d) The powers of Prometheus.

7. In "They Don't Love You Like I Love You," who tells the speaker "Don't stray" (19)?
(a) Her brother.
(b) Her friend.
(c) Her lover.
(d) Her mother.

8. In "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word," when the speaker claims to be the only Native person "on the 8th floor of this hotel or any," what technique is being used (14)?
(a) Allegory.
(b) Sarcasm.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Paradox.

9. In "Skin-Light," the speaker refers to "violet, biliruben/ bloom." What is she describing?
(a) Painting.
(b) Stones.
(c) Flowers.
(d) Bruises.

10. In "Like Church," what does the speaker compare her relationship with the church to?
(a) The work required to tend a garden successfully.
(b) America's history of oppression.
(c) Her relationship with her family.
(d) Her intimate relationship with a White lover.

11. In "Wolf OR-7," what word does the speaker say can also mean "touch" (32)?
(a) Love.
(b) Bite.
(c) Howl.
(d) Know.

12. In "Skin-Light," what is the most likely antecedent of "it" in the line "My whole life I have obeyed it" (21)?
(a) The "glide of the hand."
(b) "Skin-Light."
(c) "The opened-gold field."
(d) This "god-made place."

13. In "Asterion's Lament," what does the speaker say is another name for "water" (27)?
(a) "Thread."
(b) "Holy."
(c) "Map."
(d) "Jet."

14. In "Wolf OR-7," what state has the solitary wolf "OR-7" entered?
(a) Oregon.
(b) California.
(c) Colorado.
(d) Washington.

15. What technique is used in the "American Arithmetic" lines, "I do not remember the days before America--/ I do not remember the days when we were all here" (17)?
(a) Antimetabole.
(b) Antithesis.
(c) Anaphora.
(d) Hyperbaton.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Ink-Light," where are the speaker and her beloved?

2. In "These Hands, If Not Gods," the speaker refers to "ichor." What does this word mean?

3. In "They Don't Love You Like I Love You," to what does the speaker compare the United States?

4. According to "American Arithmetic," what percentage of the U.S. population is Native American?

5. Which of the following is the best descriptor of the tone of "American Arithmetic"?

(see the answer keys)

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